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sound guy ignoring direct out on amp

R

remainthesame

Sep 24, 2008
818
48
#1
Okay, so I use a gk 1001rbII. Anybody familiar with the amp probably knows and loves the direct out on it. A few of the sound guys in my area seem to either ignore it or hate it or something. They always unplug me from my amp (the input is right next to the direct out, you cant miss it) and they hook me up to their di box. Now there's a couple things that bother me about this, only one of them actually effects me, but the rest is just as annoying.

First issue, it renders my tuner mute totally useless. You can hear me try to tune through the pa while my singer talks to the crowd. Which to me is unprofessional, I know I hate seeing other bands do that. I know I can unplug and go to the tuner but if he used the direct out on my amp, I wouldn't have to do that. :mad:

My second issue is, If I was a sound guy I would rather use the direct out that comes on most bass amps these days. You simply plug in an XLR, dial in a tone on the mixing board and you're done. They usually only sound check me for about 7 seconds before telling me to stop playing anyway. They might as well save the additional couple seconds it takes to unplug me and hook me up to the box.

Whenever we set up and I see the sound guy comming my way I tell them about the direct out. They usually say one of the following:
"i just want to make sure it has a ground lift"--- theres a ground lift on the one on my amp.

"nah my box is better" --- as he pulls out a crappy $25 di

"this way is easier for me" --- which i cannot prove to be wrong, but in my mind it would be easier to use the one on the amp.


Does anybody else think this is crazy? Or am I the one being an idiot here? :confused:
 
#6
He probably has his board eq'd up based on the assumption that he'll use his own DI and he doesn't know/doesn't trust your gear. Now why guitarists get to get mic'd up and use their eq and their cabs and so on, I don't know, seems unfair.
 
#10
This has never happened to me, nor would I allow it. (I use the same amp as you).

I have had "sound guys" tell me they are going to use their own DI...that conversation lasts about 10 seconds...needless to say, I'm very polite, but my decision is final.

Be careful though, having the sound guy mad at you, almost always guarantees lousy bass tone through the FOH :rollno:, so I do what I can to be helpful with getting him hooked into my amp, or "mic"ing my cab, after we get some good levels, and he hears the tone, he's usually OK with it. ;)
 
#11
I only play gigs that require a sound man 8-10 a year and none no matter what amp I used, the sound guy used my DI on the head. One did tell me he liked my signal from one amp better than an other and asked if i had the other head with me. I also had one ask if he could mess with my rack compressor and I said sure and then he thanked me for having one.
 
#14
BTW, I am 100% with you on this. Most soundguys' logic for doing this is predicated on the idea that you are an idiot and they are geniuses. Meanwhile, fighting it, to me, proves what kind of idiots they are.

My solution? I bought an A-Designs REDDI. NOBODY argues when I show up with it, and if in the future they do, I'll just take their crappy little $25 DI and smash it with the REDDI!
 
#19
DanGouge said:
He probably has his board eq'd up based on the assumption that he'll use his own DI and he doesn't know/doesn't trust your gear. Now why guitarists get to get mic'd up and use their eq and their cabs and so on, I don't know, seems unfair.
Click to expand...

Because very few guitar amps are equipped with a D.I. The typical SM 57 (insert whatever mic here) on the cab is usually the only option for a guitar amp.
 

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